I looked everywhere
for my mother's pearl earrings. My father suggested I wear them
because he has decided I need to go with him on his first dinner date
with a co-worker. They sound like an ideal match, but that's not
the important thing at the moment, the important thing is finding
those damn earrings.

"Roslyn are you ready
yet?" My father yelled up the stairs. My father is a nurse and
somewhere between ER and Same Day Surgery he met Amy, who is also a
nurse. So the two have decided to take things beyond the workplace
and that's what's bringing on my intense rage during a futile
search for fucking earrings. Who decides to go to a fancy Italian
restaurant on the first official date anyways?

"Just a minute Dad!"

I'm
happy for my dad, but going out tonight caused a real inconvenience
to me. It implied that I have to wear something besides sweat pants.
I like to look nice, but not on the last day of school before
Thanksgiving break. Today I was just supposed to come home and start
watching a Gilmore Girl marathon, and that's after eating a bag of
Doritos for dinner and working tediously at painting my toenails the
perfect ruby for no other reason than amusement. Instead I'm going
to have linguini in a sensuously clingy black dress. I am not a
happy Noir. Robert Noir is the only happy one, but he's also
nervous.

My
father has never dated anyone after my mom died. He set his eyes on
securing my future. He worked a lot and put away money for college
tuition and then after that he decided to become fixated in a home
improvement hobby. Our house has so many improvements we give Tim
Taylor a run for his money.

Then
after that was over he decided that we needed to travel more, and off
we flew to Europe, Africa, and South America. Now he has come to a
halt, and finally realized mom would want him to move on. We lost
her on my fifth birthday when she went to run a simple errand. A
trailer lost control of his breaks and ran the red light two blocks
from the supermarket where she bought the pack of twelve candles dad
had forgotten. She was announced dead on arrival. Dad has just now
forgiven himself and really needs this date. I'm just praying Amy
isn't an asshole. Gilmore Girls is one of my favorite shows.

"Are you ready now?"

Yep, Dad was definitely
becoming impatient. He wants to be early, but Amy will understand
when she sees me. I'm a perfectionist and an hour's notice for a
dinner date, even if I'm not really the one on a date, is still a
very unreasonable timeframe.

"Yes!" I slipped
my stiletto heals on and walked down the hallway. I lingered by a
picture of my mom, dad, and me and just thought long enough to tell
her I wouldn't let dad make a jackass out of himself or get mixed
up with a horrendous bitch. I promised to be a lady throughout the
whole ordeal. At seventeen I think it is kind of expected of me.
Oh, another loss to this outing is that I'm not allowed to drive.
I love driving, but my father insists it would be a disaster. Now,
that's not being a dad, that's just being male.

"Ros, about time you
showed your pretty face," Dad smiled as I finished my trek down the
cheery wood spiral staircase, one of his many projects. He looked
nice, but not overly done because he wore a black dinner jacket and
dress pants, ditching the tie and opting for a decorative red silk
button-up. His wavy brown hair was already getting streaks of gray,
but it suited his working ethic. One thing a girl can appreciate is
that her father can dress himself, and Robert Noir is pretty styling
for forty. "Hey kiddo, where did you get that dress," he
remarks.

I believe he was
remarking because the dress I decided to wear is very fitted and has
a spaghetti strap halter and very low back and chest.

"Yeah, I got it the
last time Jacque and I went shopping, but with swim practice I've
been too exhausted to plan a weekend exciting enough to wear it," I
answered. Jacque is my best friend. She lives close enough that
when I was little and upset I used to run away to her house.

"So, what do you
think?" He asked looking into the mirror.

"Well, I think that
you look good for an old guy," I smiled.

"You are no help am I
really that old?" He said squinting and arching his eyebrows in a
funny manner, and also, checking for nose hairs.

"No," I said. He
really only looked old when he was overworked and lately he had been
looking really healthy. He kind of scared me though when he asked if
he was really that old because that could only mean that Amy was
younger. "I'm sure Amy's at about your same stage of old."

"Uh, look we've got
to get going, run and back the truck out will you?" He said
tossing me the keys.

I could see myself
smile in the polished black paint of his Dodge 4x4 and I attempted to
hop up into the driver's seat. It was a manual and I had begged
him to let me drive it when I got my license but he said it would be
too much for me to handle. So, I can dream, but I am satisfied with
my little mustang. I really didn't want it but my cousin who is
fucking rich decided to buy a Mercedes and since my mom died he felt
I deserved it. My dad got the truck and the teenager got the
mustang. The picture is wrong from almost every angle and according
to my friends atrociously wrong from the angle I'm coming from, the
I-would-rather-have-the-manly-truck angle.

"Hey ready to roll?"
Dad asked stepping into the passenger's seat.

"Wow, you weren't
kidding, okay then let's go. Is it the restaurant on Summit or
Dodson?"

"It's the one on
Summit and don't speed but please try to avoid lights we're
cutting it close." Yeah I was for sure that he was nervous now.

"How old is Amy…"
I came to a pause when I realized I didn't even know this woman's
last name.

"Amy Dalton is her
name, and you know it's impolite to ask a lady's age," he
smiled.

"Oh, just tell me."

"Alright she'll be
thirty-six in March, and I might as well tell you that she has a
son," he bothered to mention after I had left the damn
house.

"Oh, so you refrained
to mention that I would be eating and trying to make conversation
with some little rugrat?" I said probably a lot harsher than I had
intended. I had just had a bad attitude since he told me I was going
on this little adventure and anything unexpected wasn't going to be
acknowledged as a bonus, just a bother.

"No…he's not a
rugrat. I just didn't want you to flip a lid when you heard she
has a son the same age as you are," he said, and that just made
things better.

"Oh, perfect so I
have to make conversation with a guy my own age…"

"See not so bad now
is it?" He smiled thinking he had made things better.

I was happy that it was
a red light so I could perfect my dramatic reaction.

"Heck no it's
worse!" I really wanted to say something a bit stronger but my dad
hates to hear me cuss. His expression was very shocked and I didn't
move the truck until I heard a few irritated honking drivers behind
me.

After two right turns
of silence I decided I should maybe act my age, "Look dad I'm
sorry it's just that it really is going to be difficult talking to
a guy the same age as me with a thought in mind that he may become my
brother. I…don't know how to describe it. Again, I'm sorry."

I knew that wouldn't
be the end of the already awkward evening.

The restaurant was
called Firenze, and had dimmed lights and soft Italian elevator music
playing at all times. The waiters were in penguin suits, what I like
to call the stuffy little things they stuff formally dressed waiters
into. Everything on the menu had an Italian name and there was no
such thing as a kid's menu. All the tables had red satin table
clothes and white carnations in their centers. It was semi-formal,
but to us it was way beyond the usual Dominos delivery service.

We were the first two
to sit down at the reservation for four, and it was under Dalton, I
noted. I was glad because it would've been hell if dad were late
for his first date. I would never hear the end of it. We sat in
silence pretty much the whole time except for when the waiter asked
for our drink orders. I just got some water. Dad had said I could
have wine, but I opted for the water. If I had alcohol to drink I
may have just decided to overdue it. I've only been drunk once and
it was just Jacque and I trying it out at her house for the first
time. The hangover wasn't worth the endless laughter.

Suddenly hushed arguing
interrupted the silence, and I guessed it was someone in about the
position I sat in: his or her parents had dragged somebody's ass
here and they weren't at all happy about it.

"Mom this is crazy
you…you don't even know if you're ready for this…"

"Mathias if you say
another word…they're probably already here…"

"Oh please if he has
a teenage daughter…they take forever and a day to get ready…"

I saw my dad play with
his top button and knew that it could only mean that this was Amy
Dalton and her son, Mathias.

"Mom seriously…"

And that's about the
time they came around the corner to find me staring at my water like
it was the most fascinating thing I'd ever seen in my life and my
dad straighten up, alert, in his chair so fast you'd have thought
someone fired a gun. I sighed and looked up to see what I had to
make conversation with…

Amy
looked very nice in a dress reaching to her ankles and draping around
her shoulders. It was a dress a thirty-something looked nice in and
she obviously hadn't had any other kids besides Mathias because she
had a nice-looking body. She wasn't in perfect shape, but
obviously she worked at staying healthy. Her auburn hair was kept up
in a twist unlike mine, which I left hanging straight, but Dad likes
my black hair straight so I thought it was okay. She kind of made me
feel self-conscious as to who my dad would think looked nicer.

Then I turned my eyes to Mathias and didn't worry so much about
Amy. She must have drug his ass; scratch that I mean drugged his ass
to get him here. He looked like he would rather be anywhere else in
the world but here, and he wasn't dressed the part of gentlemen.
He was in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. It was an American Eagle
hooded sweatshirt, but one that had been through a lot. His face
would've been a lot nicer with a smile, but it was nice all the
same. He had very prominent features and his blue eyes looked like
they could cut steel at the moment. He didn't have hair at all
like his mom's. His hair was made of a cross between wavy and
curly black hair. It was also fairly long. The ends just brushed
the hood of his sweatshirt, but it wasn't greasy so he got points
for that. I knew exactly what my father was thinking too, and it
eerily crossed the roads of my mind. We looked like brother and
sister, but nothing like either of our parents.

"We haven't ordered
yet, but the waiter brought us our drinks. Would you like some wine?
I could order a bottle?" My dad suggested.

"That would be lovely
since I have my own designated driver," Amy laughed and I tried to
smile. Mathias just sighed.

"Nope," Mathias
answered taking a sip of water. Right now I was quite mad that he
was acting like a little kid, but when I looked at my reaction I
figured minus the attempt to look good and I was about at the same
level.

"Well, the girl
across from you not acting like a baby is Roslyn Noir," Amy said
and I smiled a bit. I really do think I like her.

"And don't be
fooled she's a really good actress Amy, but the young man across
from you Ros is Amy's son Mathias," my dad said. Mathias and I
exchanged a mutual hello and let our parents talk.

When it came time to
order I decided to get the tortellini and Amy and my dad ordered
spaghetti, but Mathias wasn't too enthusiastic to order.

"Why don't you just
have spaghetti?" Amy asked.

"I'd rather have
pizza," Mathias smirked.

"Well no one's
stopping you from leaving Mathias you drove remember?" Amy said
indignantly.

"You know what mom
that's the best idea you've had all night," he answered and
stood from the table, Amy standing with him.

"Mathias!" She
called when he walked out the doors. That of course caused the whole
restaurant to turn around and look at our humble little table.

My dad looked at me and
I knew what he wanted. I knew the look in his eyes. He didn't
feel right stepping in but he thought that I should.

"Um, Amy, I can go…"

"Would you please?"
She looked at me pleadingly. It was the first time I had ever even
seen the woman and I could read her begging eyes too. Oh, hell why
not it would get me out of there, but they wouldn't enjoy their
dinner at all worrying about us.

I walked out the door
at my own speed hoping he wasn't gone. If he was too damn bad
because I was not going to break a heel running after him.

He had the decency to
stop so I could catch up and look him in the…neck. He was quite a
bit taller, but I hadn't noticed while sitting down.

"What the hell I want
is for you to stop being a fucking baby and go back in there with
me," I said. I speak my mind and he was obviously the same.

"Really, well tough
shit, do you expect me to put on a happy smile while my mom does
something she'll regret for the rest of her life. The divorce
papers are barely finalized and she's out looking for a new guy
already. My dad did something he regretted and I'm not gonna let
her do the same!" I was surprised nobody's car alarm going off
because even I could feel the vibrations in his tone.

"Oh, really well
that's fucking fabulous, but what about my dad? He's spent
twelve years widowing and being depressed and now that you think your
mom is making a mistake you're going to go and fuck it up for him
too? Look, at least give them a chance!" I said. I noticed he
looked me up while I did so too, but didn't pay it any mind. I
knew the dress was hot. He probably hadn't gotten a good look
while I was sitting. "Any fucking day now."

Mathias snapped out of
his daze and spoke.

"Really? A chance,
eh? They've had three fucking months of chancing it! Or have you
not heard?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

At about that time I
was glad I kept the keys in my purse. I was absolutely floored. My
dad and I talk all the time, and how the hell could I miss him
disappearing to see Amy? Where have I been? Well, at least I know
where I'm going…

"Excuse me a moment I
just need to get my keys and I'll be joining you!" I yelled back
and saw him smile for the first time all night.

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